Hitler Hunkers in his Bunker: Wolf's Lair

In 1941, in East Prussia, what is now present day Poland, a complex network of bunkers and headquarters was built for the coordination of the German invasion of Russia, Operation Barbarossa. This complex housed headquarters for all of the German invasion forces, as well as residences for top Nazi officials, including Albert Speer, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and most important of all Adolf Hitler. The German name for this complex is Wolfsschanze, but the Western World knows it as the Wolf's Lair.

The complex was constructed during the fall of 1940 in the middle of the forest outside of the East Prussian town of Rastenburg, now present day Polish town of Ketrzyn. It occupied 6.5 square kilometers, and had three separate security zones. The first zone was for protecting the bunker that the Fuehrer and all of his top officials would meet and reside.The second zone was for bunkers and houses for other officials not in Hitler's inner circle, as well as barracks for the Fuehrer Security Brigade. the third security zone protected the perimeter, and was mostly made up of special security forces and landmines.

Of the thirty eight buildings that made up the Wolf's Lair, one stands out among the rest. Hut #6 was the site in which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators planted a bomb intended to kill Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944. Suffice it to say, Hitler did not die in the explosion and the conspirators were caught.

Hitler used the Wolf's Lair from July 23, 1941 to November 20, 1944. In its 3 1/2 year use by the Germans, Hitler resided there for 800 days. Most of the time he was going between military briefings, but after these were done, Hitler would take walks with his dog among other things. By November of 1944, the Russians had advanced close enough to the Wolf's Lair so as to make it unsafe for Hitler, so it was summarily abandoned, and the Russians took the bunker on January 24, 1945.

The legacy of the Wolf's Lair doesn't end with the Germans however. The Russians tried repeatedly to demolish the bunkers, but they proved more sturdy that the Russian s had thought. One bunker it is said took eight tons of TNT do completely destroy. with other bunkers, the explosions merely lifted the roofs, but the structure remained intact. Keep in mind that the roofs on some of these bunkers were two meters of reinforced concrete! Also, it wasn't until 1955 that the more than 54,000 landmines were cleared from around the complex.

Today, the ruins of the Wolf's Lair sit abandoned and alone in the forests of Poland, and the ruins are available for tourists to visit. Until next time, take care, and thanks for reading.